PUB 432 – Communication and Persuasion

2015 Summer

In addition to our usual focus on rhetoric and discourse analysis, our class project will probably be about coalition government negotiations in the past…

PUB 432 – Communication and Persuasion

My pet course has a different orientation this year! Instead of theoretical, I turn the class into a Digital PR agency simulation focusing on our Bilgi Public Relation’s digital outputs… ———-2 October 2011

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PUB 432 – Communication and Persuasion is my pet course. This has been the fourth year that I offer this senior year elective course. Every year I choose a theme and work on it a with a small and committed group of students… Here are the themes so far: Introduction to Rhetoric, Political Propaganda, Disciplinary Discourses. This semester’s theme is Conspiracy theories.

Here I will offer a list of works on Conspiracy theories. I will also present our class survey of conspiracy theory material in popular culture. The listing will be mostly related to Turkey but there will also be a short listing for non-Turkish materials. From now on, there will be small annotations in Turkish intended for the students (Conspiracy theories references can be found at the end of the page).

1) The Manchurian Candidate (1962)The Conspiracy: An ex-soldier and member of a prominent political family is brainwashed by Chinese, Korean and Russian Communist agents to assassinate a presidential candidate. The 2004 remake (ironically) replaces the Communists with a mysterious corporate syndicate.Paranoia Level: 5 out of 5. It?s a well-known fact that both sides of the Cold War hatched some scary and confounding conspiracies. Also, in this post- Halliburton/Blackwater era, you?re not going to have to work hard convincing people that insidious corporate syndicates control everything.

2) The Insider (1999)The Conspiracy: A research chemist (Russell Crowe) appears on 60 Minutes to reveal that the tobacco industry has always known how addictive cigarettes are and have been working on ways to make them more so. Simultaneously, ?Big Tobacco? funds research that smokescreens mainstream medicine?s studies of cigarettes deadly properties.Paranoia Scale: 5 out of 5. Despite the fact that the 60 Minutes piece the film was based on never aired, no one should be surprised that this sort of conspiracy exists ? they should only be surprised that it is allowed to continue.

3) All the President?s Men (1976)

When it comes to conspiracies, it doesn?t get much bigger than the infamous Watergate scandal which forced the resignation of President Richard Nixon. From shadowy meetings with sources in parking garages to a constant sense of danger around every corner, reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward risked everything to get the truth out to the American people (and make their careers in the process). Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford star in this film based on the 1974 book of the same name. It?s interesting to note that the identity of Deep Throat, Woodward?s secret source, was kept hidden until 2005.

4) Three Days of the Condor (1975)The Conspiracy: When a secret plan to take over oil fields in the Middle East is inadvertently uncovered by a small C.I.A. branch office in New York City, the men behind the plan wipe out everyone who works there. Well, everyone except Robert Redford, who has to stay alive long enough to piece together what?s going on and expose those behind it.Paranoia Level: 4 out 5. When dealing with conspiracies, it?s common knowledge that those behind them will stoop pretty low to keep things quiet. And we all know the sort of shenanigans that take place when oil fields are involved, don?t we?

5) The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998)The Conspiracy: A secret cabal made up of mysterious figures from the world?s largest powers has kept the existence of extraterrestrials secret for more than 50 years. Worse, they have worked out a date for the aliens to invade the planet and enslave the population.Paranoia Level: 3.5 out of 5. Given the existence of secret U.S. military operations like Project Blue Book, the alleged crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, and that whole Area 51 thing, this doesn?t seem too far-fetched.

6) The Da Vinci Code (2006)The Conspiracy: Yup, Jesus and Mary Magdalene were totally doing it ? and a sect of Vatican types have kept that secret and the location of the Holy Grail quiet for centuries, using the titular ?code,? natch. When a man is found dead, surrounded by a bunch of wacky messages and symbols, ?Symbolist? (read: another word for Tom Hanks with a really bad hairdo) Robert Langdon begins a quest to crack the code ? leading to his being chased around the globe by an ee-evil monk trying to keep the secret quiet.Paranoia Level: 3 out of 5. Sir Ian McKellan, one of the flick?s stars, called the plot ?a load of potential codswallop,? and Cannes Film Festival crowd infamously laughed during the premiere?s climax and booed at the credits. Still, this crackpot conspiracy raked in the second-highest box office numbers of ?06, not to mention generated protests from several groups, including everyone from Catholic bishops to angry albinos.

7) Enemy of the State (1998)The Conspiracy: A congressman lobbying to stop a bill granting the government Big-Brother style surveillance is murdered by an evil politician (Jon Voight). An unwitting civilian (Jason Lee) gets it all on tape ? and quickly finds himself running from the Feds. After sneakily planting the tape on old pal Clayton Dean (Will Smith), Dean becomes their next target. Not only is he chased by satellite, but the government has him fired, steals his briefcase and fabricates an affair with Lisa Bonet that makes his wife kick him to the curb. Apart from the Lisa Bonet bit: harsh.Paranoia Level: 3 out of 5. For any nut who mistrusts surveillance cameras, this one should have you crafting a toque out of tinfoil. The bigger conspiracy, though: How did so many comics (Jamie Kennedy, Jack Black, Jason Lee, Seth Green) get cast in this thriller?

8) Conspiracy Theory (1997)The Conspiracy: Apart from the fact he?s played by Mel Gibson, cabdriver Jerry is a typical crackpot, constantly sharing garden variety conspiracy theories (i.e. – serial killers always have two names but assassins always have three! Did we just blow your mind, or what?) to his passengers and buddy, D.A. Alice Sutton (Julia Roberts). Jerry, however, is part of a conspiracy himself; he was once programmed by the CIA to be a killer. Alice is hesitant to believe him ? even with those big, movie star eyes of his ? but when they?re suddenly being pursued by evil agents and helicopters, she changes her tune.Paranoia Level: 2 out of 5. Mel ?Sugar Tits? Gibson might have a better chance of pulling off the role of a loonie cab driver today than he did in 1997. Still, the conspiracy theories in this movie are as sinister as an episode of Hannah Montana.

9) The Conversation (1974)The Conspiracy: A surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) overhears a conversation between a man and his mistress, the wife of a powerful intelligence operative known as The Director. When he begins to involve himself in the web of intrigue surrounding their affair, things go completely awry.Paranoia Level: 1.5 out of 5. Eavesdropping and other invasions of privacy are scary but most of the conspiracy in this excellent Francis Ford Coppola flick is in the main character?s head.

10) Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)The Conspiracy: A separatist movement upsets the intergalactic peace established at the end of The Phantom Menace when a bill is proposed that will create a giant space army of evil clones. After our Jedi heroes do some meddling, they discover the baddies have been building their galactic army without permission (ooh, take that, democracy!) and a really long CGI battle sequence ensues.Paranoia Level: 1 out of 5. You?d think things like ?space? and ?Ewan McGregor? would ratchet up anything ? even a boring political thriller. Nope. Thankfully, Yoda?s light-saber skills during the climax helped make up for two-and-a-half tedious hours of space policy and robot wars.